re: Baton Rouge streetcar thread

Yeah I'm not sure why there is still argument about students using this. Take them out of the equation completely. The majority of riders will be going between downtown and the new development.

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unless the route is getting extended, the residential on the route is already there.

so basically the only people that are going to use it are a few lsu students and some people that live in the ghetto to go downtown.

waste of $$

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Well seeing how there are plans to redevelop the area in between downtown and LSU that go hand in hand with the streetcar project, it is kinda hard to say the residents are already there. That corridor will look a lot different in 2026 than it does in 2016. I know it is a strange concept for Louisiana but they are trying to be pro-active instead of reactive.

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See what buses will do before you spend 100 million dollars on light rail.

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Again, for the record, the connotation you are attaching to "spend" is very dishonest considering the project would be federally and privately funded. Despite your notions of federal spending and meddling, the budget will not be solved by Baton Rouge saying no to those dollars.

eta. and the grant program isn't going to allocate those dollars to a bus project

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There is no light rail now yet the area is being developed as we speak.

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The streetcar is not a new idea. It was mentioned in the green light plan years ago.

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Most of the projections by the powers that be have been wrong. Bus lines don't live up to projections. Trolley ridership is down too.

See what buses will do before you spend 100 million dollars on light rail.

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Because scrapping streetcars for busses was the wrong decision in 1945 and it still the wrong decision in 2016. In fact most light rail projects saw increases in ridership in 2013, and bus nationwide fell. 2013 saw the highest use or mass transit in the USA since 1956.

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In 2013 Americans took 10.7 billion trips on public transportation, which is the highest annual public transit ridership number in 57 years, according to a report released today by the American Public Transportation Association (APTA). This was the eighth year in a row that more than 10 billion trips were taken on public transportation systems nationwide. While vehicle miles traveled on roads (VMT) went up 0.3 percent, public transportation use in 2013 increased by 1.1 percent.

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Light rail (modern streetcars, trolleys, and heritage trolleys) ridership increased 1.6 percent in 2013 with 17 out of 27 transit systems reporting increases.[/b] Systems that showed double digit increases in 2013 were located in the following cities: New Orleans, LA (28.9%); Denver, CO (14.9%); and San Diego, CA (10.4%). Ridership in the following cities also saw increases in 2013: Seattle, WA – Sound Transit (9.8%); Pittsburgh, PA (7.5%); Salt Lake City, UT (6.8%); Los Angeles, CA (6.0%); San Jose, CA (3.6%); and Philadelphia, PA (3.5%).

Bus ridership increased by 3.8 percent in cities with a population of below 100,000. Nationally, bus ridership in communities of all sizes remained stable, declining by 0.1 percent.
Large bus systems with increases were located in the following areas: Washington, DC (3.5%); Houston, TX (3.4%); Cincinnati, OH (3.4%); and Seattle, WA (3.1%).

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LINK
Plus care ownership is going down among younger Americans.

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Since 2007, Americans have been driving less, breaking a trend that had been rising for more than two decades.

In addition, an October report from consumer group U.S. PIRG shows driving and car ownership is trending down among younger Americans and is likely to keep doing so.

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LINK

So a streetcar system might cost more than a bus, but streetcars are way better than busses. What I can't understand is why they are doing a streetcar and not BRT. BRT costs half as much as light rail and spur more development. However both are better than the traditional old POS bus, especially when that bus is run by CATS.

So why don't the powers that be put a little effort into it and do a real study as to what fits EBR best? All I've seen is a few people pushing this light rail from LSU to downtown as if people at LSU are needing to get downtown and vice versa.

Now I don't doubt some people want to make that trek, but is the demand such that you need mass transit? But frankly I do not see the need.

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They don't have to share lanes with cars, making them less susceptible to being stuck in the same traffic jams.

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That's not necessarily true. There are three (3) classes of inner-city rail lines all with their increasingly more expensive costs. Class C lines are those that are along the street, sharing the road with cars, being constantly susceptible to automobile traffic. Class B lines are those who tend to be in the neutral ground. Think Canal and St. Charles. They interact with cars at intersections. Class A lines are those that are segregated from all automobile traffic. Think NY subterranean subways and above ground lines as in Miami. As thought, the most expensive are the segregated lines.

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You can add or subtract busses to suit your needs and to adjust to fluctuations in demand. $100m buys a whole bunch of busses.

Autonomous cars will render this thing obsolete in 15 years. I feel like these projects are nice but are just ways to subsidize the development of politically connected peoples' property. I noticed that Congressman Graves' brother in law, who lives in Ohio has been named realtor for all those water campus deals.

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I thought the same thing. Also the developers want a way to bring wallets and purses to their businesses.

Didn't know that about Graves' brother-in-law. Do you have a link to the story or remember where you read it?

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They got a grant for a $1.8million study, and they did do a studyP

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Yes, they got a grant, told the firm they hired to make the study what they forecast the perimeters to be so they could tell them what a light rail line could possibly do.

That is not the same as hiring a firm to study the best place in the parish to install a light rail line considering conditions like they are now along with potential growth.

The only line studied was the Nicholson/LSU line. Read the article, it's based on one place and a lot of what ifs.

ET ask has the study been released yet?

Also the a River District development mentioned in the article is dead in the water. The development went under.